Date: Fri 06-Dec-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

history-post-notices

Full Text:

with photo : Sticking Steadfastly To Its Post

B Y S TEVE B IGHAM

Slightly tilted and partially hidden behind a telephone pole, Newtown's old

sign post near Edmond Town Hall no longer serves much of a purpose, but,

withstanding the test of time, it remains a fixture in Newtown's long history.

The white wooden post was once used to announce meetings or to post minutes.

Today, besides being used for announcing occasional town meetings, the sign is

mostly used to advertise lost pets or a local tag sale, and is a serviceable

stand-in for a fire hydrant for dogs.

Town Clerk Cindy Curtis Simon said the post was at one time the main medium

used to communicate to community members. She said until as late as 1764 there

was also a drummer who, like a town crier, would summon people to listen with

his drum then make a formal announcement. Also, formal announcements were

posted at "ye oak tree near Sargeant Joseph Botsford," according to Newtown's

History and Historian Ezra Levan Johnson, published in 1917.

Jack Rosenthal said he always used to post the agendas for the Board of

Selectman on the sign post when he was the town's first selectman from

1976-1988.

According to lifelong resident Sarah Mannix, now in her 80s, the old sign post

has been up since Edmond Town Hall was erected in 1930. She said a sign post

has been used ever since the town was established in 17-8, but that the

original post has likely been replaced since then.

"Its been there, I think, since we had a town hall," she said. It was put up

when the town was settled," she said.

Longtime resident Betty Lou Osborne agreed, saying she always remembers seeing

the post sitting idle along Main Street.

"It's been there for as long as I can remember," she said. "It may have been

put up when the building was put up. It's old."

According to Mrs Mannix, the sign post used to be up on the other side of the

property where the Newtown General Store currently sits but was moved when

Edmond Town Hall was built. (Newtown's old town hall sat near where the

General Store is located).

Attorney Bob Hall said that though the post appears to sit on the property of

his law firm on and the Newtown General Store, it is actually on a small plot

of land owned by the town.

Mike Zilinick, who is in charge of maintenance at Edmond Town Hall, remembers

when he first arrived he didn't know what the strange looking post was for and

wanted to cut it down.

"Cindy Curtis said `no, no you can't cut that down,'" he recalled.

So the post still stands season after season without any specific purpose, but

propped up nonetheless by tradition.